The artist Tatiana Trouvé picked up a copy of Libération in mid-March to find an apocalyptic front page with the headline: The Day Before. It came just as the country reluctantly embarked on a full lockdown, and inspired her to start a project where she reimagined newspaper front pages from around the world as quarantines took hold.
The Italian-born artist, who lives in Paris, has now created 40 works that are based on newspaper headlines from 34 different countries. “The idea was that by reading the newspapers I would get out of the lockdown and find out about life outside of my apartment and studio,” she said. “It was about being connected to the rest of the world outside of my studio.”
The number 40 has a significance in France because that was the initial number of days citizens were told they were going to be under lockdown measures.
The rules of which newspapers would be included were simple: they would come from countries severely affected by the pandemic, there would be no tabloids, and nothing from state-controlled media.
Newspapers including La Stampa, the New York Times, El País, the Washington Post and the Guardian featured, as Trouvé printed out digital editions and then altered them using paint and other materials, including linseed oil.
“Sometimes I would just draw over the front page and insert some moment from my daily life,” she said. “Other times the drawing was a reaction to what I was reading. Some of the front pages were really affecting me, so I’d try to draw what I was feeling.”
The result is a huge collage of newspaper front pages that tell the story of the pandemic’s growth throughout the world with images of medics in PPE interspersed with images from Trouvé’s life, such as of her dog Lulu. She describes it as “a kind of diary, day after day, in my studio, with Lulu, my projects and the confinement”.
At a time when trust in news organisations has plummeted, along with physical sales, Trouvé, who is best known for her sculpture work in New York’s Central Park, believes the project highlights the need for well-reported news.
“I didn’t want fake news. I wanted newspapers that were open to the rest of the world,” she said. “I don’t trust the news I read on Facebook. People need to make better choices as well in order to get the best information.”
